braingearsgraphnetworkingpencil-and-rulersciencewomen-networkworld-globebloggerlogohomeclosepluscompassglobequotevideovirtual-toursearchplayarrow-righttwitterfacebookbarscaret-downcaret-upcaret-leftcaret-rightlinkedinyoutube-playinstagramtumblrsnapchat-ghostJump to HeaderJump to Main ContentJump to Footer

History Department

History majors at SUNY Plattsburgh become part of a community of scholars that attempts
to think deeply and critically about the ways history shapes our world. And they are
guided by energetic and talented professors committed to student success. Our faculty
is renowned for their research, but they are, above all, teachers eager to bring their
research into the classroom. Our dynamic curriculum features thematic explorations
of topics in environmental history, migration, popular culture and religion, as well
as regional surveys from the Renaissance to the present. Small class sizes ensure
that students get lots of individual attention both inside and outside the classroom
to learn skills that will help them be successful in a complex and changing world.

Get Involved

All students are invited to join our student-run History Association, and to participate
in unique programs like the Model Organization of American States. They are also invited
to enroll in a variety of mini-courses featuring prominent guest faculty from throughout
the U.S. and Canada. Sponsored by the McLellan Foundation, these courses feature local
historical themes.

History Program News

For the fall of 2017, I received a Fulbright grant to accept an invitation from the
Center for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society at Shanghai University to be
a guest of the center and conduct research in Shanghai and other cities in China.
My current project is a book on American missionary medical education for Chinese
women from 1879 to 1949. Through this grant, I have been able to research in archives
in Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing and Guangzhou, and plan to visit the archives in Shandong
in January during the last week of my grant. Equally valuable has been the chance
to get to know Chinese scholars working on missionary education in China. I had the
honor of being invited to give the keynote address at a conference on Christianity
and modern medicine in China, where I was able to meet numerous other scholars working
on missionaries and medicine. While in Shanghai, I have also given other lectures
on my work and other topics. For example, I was invited to speak at a seminar discussing
the year anniversary of the election of Donald Trump, where I discussed specifically
the impact of refugees fleeing the United States to Canada on the North Country and
local efforts to assist the refugees.

In addition to the scholarly benefits, I have had the opportunity to bring my children
and give them exposure to Chinese language and culture. My twin sons, Kiernan and
Rory, 17, are spending the semester studying Chinese at Shanghai University, while
my daughter Meara, 7, attends an elementary school in Shanghai. Meara has not only
learned a great deal of Chinese, but has also begun to play a Chinese instrument,
the guzheng, or zither. We have made new friends not only from China, but from all
around the world.

On February 20th, author, astronomer, and co-discoverer of the Schumacher-Levy 9 comet
paid a visit to our campus. Dr. Levi met informally with students from the history
department and gave a public presentation in Hudson 106: “Talk, Tunes and Text: The
Night Sky in History, Literature and Music.” Levy reflected on a lifetime of searching
the night sky,and encouraged the audience to see astronomy as something that belongs
to everyone, professional and amateur alike. Levy, who also holds a PhD in English
Literature specializing in the appearance of astronomical phenomena in Shakespeare’s
and other authors’ works, discussed the ways that the night sky has influenced scholars
and artists across the centuries.The talk was well attended by students, faculty and
community members, who were treated to slide show featuring numerous images captured
by Levy over the course of his life.

The editors of Quebec Studies have selected Mark Richard for Liverpool University
Press’ 2015 Awards for Outstanding Journal Reviewers. These awards celebrate the important
contribution of all of our reviewers in ensuring a consistently high quality of published
work. Dr. Richard will receive a certificate acknowledging his exceptional service
by contributing timely, rigorous, and thoughtful peer reviews.

The department extends its sincerest congratulations to alumnus Devin Lander who was
appointed to the post of New York State Historian by State Education Commissioner
Mary Ellen Elia. The State Historian is responsible for conducting research on state
history. The State Historian is tasked with promoting collaboration, education and
scholarship to ensure a greater understanding of the history of New York State. Devin
has spent the last six years as Executive Director of the Museum Association of New
York. Prior to that, he was Deputy Legislative Director for Assemblyman Steve Englebright,
and Staff Director for the Historic Hudson-Hoosic Rivers Partnership. Devin received
his B.A. in American History from the SUNY Plattsburgh and an M.A. in Public History
from the University at Albany. Congratulations Devin!

The history department extends warm congratulations to Adam Saccardi who was selected
as a recipient of this year’s SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. A triple-major
in history, economics and political science, Adam is also a member of the history
student honors society Phi Alpha Theta, and an active member of student government.
The award “honors State University of New York students who have best demonstrated
and been recognized for their integration of academic excellence with other aspects
of their lives, which may include leadership, campus involvement, athletics, career
achievement, community service or creative and performing arts.” Adam received the
award from Chancellor Nancy Zimpher at a special ceremony in Albany in April.

On Sunday April 3, students from the history department and across campus made the
trip to Montreal for a tour of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre. Founded in
1979 by a group of Holocaust survivors, it was officially opened in 2003 and serves
as an important institution for teaching about the Nazi genocide and the dangers of
anti-Semitism. Montreal is home to the third largest group of survivors in the world,
and the Museum features a wide variety of original artifacts. The trip was sponsored
by the School of Arts and Sciences, the Student Association, and College Auxiliary
Services, and was led by Professors Richard Schaefer, Jonathan Slater, and Howard
Gontovnick. In addition to touring the Museum’s permanent collection, students were
able to have an extended discussion with a survivor.

BLOOMINGTON, IN—During its annual meeting in St. Louis, the Organization of American
Historians (OAH) announced that James D. Rice, State University of New York at Plattsburgh,
has been selected to receive the 2015 Germany Residency at the University of Tübingen.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the OAH is pleased to
continue the Germany Residency Program in American history at the University of Tübingen.
The resident scholar will offer a seminar on a U.S. history topic of his or her design.
The award was announced on April 18 by OAH’s 2014–15 President Patty Limerick and
2015–16 President Jon Butler. A total of 50 recipients received 2015 OAH awards.

Jim Lindgren’s most recent book, "Preserving South Street Seaport" (NYU Press) was
launched on April 21, 2014, at a wine-and-cheese reception sponsored by NYU Press
and the South Street Seaport Museum. It was held at the museum’s historic Bowne Printing
Shop, which, in 1975, was restored and reopened by Mayor Abe Beame in a live broadcast
on NBC’s Today show. That same night, Lindgren spoke to an enthusiastic seaport audience
packed into the famous Paris Cafe, located in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge and
FDR Drive. Sponsored by the New York Preservation Archive Project, the Historic Districts
Council, and the New York City Landmarks Conservancy, the talk recounted the story
of how the Seaport Museum saved an 11-block historic district from the wrecking ball,
grew to become New York City’s largest historical society and “America’s National
Maritime Museum,” but now faces a life-or-death struggle against commercial developers
who want its valuable property. For Lindgren’s melding of historian and preservationist,
see http://nypost.com/2014/04/19/why-nyc-must-save-the-south-street-seaport/.

As an intern at the Cultural Resource Management Department at Gettysburg National
Military Park, I see how professionals of various backgrounds work together to achieve
their mission. That mission is to protect, preserve, and interpret. The National Park
Service employs people from different backgrounds who work together to ensure that
visitors have a pleasant experience. Above all, I am learning how history is used
in practical ways. Construction projects or events at a National Park are assessed
for potential damage of the park’s resources. My job is to research and produce preservation
histories for historic homes that will be undergoing maintenance. The goal is to preserve
the structure’s historic integrity by helping construction companies know what materials
to use when rehabilitating buildings. This is especially interesting work, since it
brings together archeologists, historians, resource specialists, construction companies,
historic architects, curators, and others. I have learned the necessity of teamwork
when protecting public resources. Even though the National Park Service is just one
career option in the field of public history, seeing how history is applied beyond
the classroom has been very rewarding.

Students in William Duffany’s Social Studies Teaching Seminar stepped outside the
classroom to visit the Battle of Plattsburgh Museum and go on a “Haunted Plattsburgh
Walk.,” The latter, which actually visits several Battle-related sites, is hosted
by the Greater Adirondack Ghost and Tour Company. Seminar participants were not just
there for entertainment, however. The goal of the field trip was to think about the
ways that public history shapes our encounter with history, and how students bring
these experiences with them into the classroom.

Contact Us

Additional Information

Professional historians aim to produce reliable knowledge of the past. Since the object
of history (the “past”) is no longer before us, however, historical research requires
that we study it through the traces that have been left behind. This can be both frustrating
and exhilarating, but it certainly makes history different from any other branch of
academic study. Because the enterprise is so vast, historians typically narrow their
focus temporally, geographically, and thematically. No one of us can know it all.
This means that we depend on one another for encouragement, help, and mutual criticism.
Historical studies is, at its best, a shared endeavor, a community of knowledge.

Whether constructing narratives of events or interpreting the meaning of those events,
historians sensitize us to humanity’s unfolding in time. Though study of the past
is sometimes accused of being irrelevant in a fast-moving present, history is foundational
to the construction of individual and group identity. Precisely because it serves
these interests, history is often more assumed than understood. By testing and, at
times, challenging these assumptions, historians serve a critical function in the
public sphere. It is crucial therefore that historians undertake responsible research,
both in the careful evaluation of their sources, but also in the larger awareness
that to them falls the task of a recuperative understanding: what humanity has done,
what it has failed to do, and what remains for it in the future.